Edith Nesbit is a rare gem of a writer, but sadly her success in the U.S. has never been widespread. Yet, a few of her book are still in print. Edith was born in 1858. She studied in France and at the young age of 19 (not so young then), married Hubert Bland, a writer and political activist. Edith was all the scandal for she had a child two months after their wedding.
Edith and her husband were socialists, not something that was smiled upon in 1883. Even more out of the norm, her husband had a mistress who lived with them, and bore Herbert's child. Amazingly, Nesbit seemed all right with this. Nesbit was a regular lectureer and writer on socialism. However, over the years she began to devote less and less time to her political acitivities and began to write books for children. Her most famous novels include The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899), The Wo
uldbegoods (1901), Five Children and It (1902), The Phoenix and the Carpet (1
904), The New Treasurer-Seekers (1904), The Railway Children (1906) and her most famous, The Enchanted Castle (1907).
Edith's husband died in 1914, but within a year she married Thomas Tucker, an engineer. Edith continued to write children's book and published forty-four novels by the time of her death in 1924.
Edith has this wonderful quality in her books that really pulls the reader in, draws them into these extraordinary fantasy worlds. Although the language is a bit archaic at times, the stories never lose their magic and will hopefully remain in print for many years to come.
An interesting article about Edith Nesbit:
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/13132
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